Since I started blogging I’ve always wanted to do a post on my chocolate chip cookies. You see.. my chocolate chips are all that and a bag of pretzels. But the problem is, EVERYONE and their grandma think their chocolate chip cookies are the best. So I decided I wouldn’t do a post because it seemed overplayed (putting it mildly). I just didn’t have it in me to enter the “I have the best chocolate chip cookie recipe” rat race.
But months ago I had asked the question on Twitter on why people believed their recipe was really the best. And from that moment on, Ashley Rodriguezand I would engage in the “Chocolate chip cookie Tweet wars”. I asked her to post her recipe and she kindly pointed me to her beautiful site. I made her recipe that same evening and I must say they were incredibly good. I reported back my results to her and said this.. “They were really good, almost as good as mine.” Her next tweet went something like this, “Almost?” – a.k.a “Say what?!?” Because we’re good friends and lovingly joke around a lot with each other, I can tell you that she really does have a fabulous recipe. But I can also tell you with bold confidence, my recipe is pretty fierce – if I do say so myself. The reason why I love this recipe is because it is not overly sweet and primarily uses brown sugar. The brown sugar gives it a more caramel type chewiness and more depth than the traditional Toll House type of recipe. As a result, you get a nice crisp bottom, but the rest of the cookie is soft and chewy.
These are the cookies my sister who lives in Germany asks me to send her because they are all she can think about when she thinks of home. They are the same cookies she shared with her platoon in Iraq and the same cookies I will be sending to her in Afghanistan. I once sent her a batch of a new recipe and trust me, she noticed. I was told not to deceive her again and send my version only.
But last night it happened again. It all started out so innocently. A typical night of tweeting and before I knew it, somehow I had trash tweeted my way into a chocolate chip cookie bake off with my good friends Lorna Yee and Ashley Rodriguez. If I recall correctly, the conversation went something like this.
Me to Ashley: Bring It!
Ashley to Me: Oh I’ll Bring It!
And before I knew it, other people were arranging a bake off. Moral of the story.. do not tweet and trash if you can’t back it up. And for the record, I can back it up. Enough said.
I present to you my favorite and original Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Enjoy!
| The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe EVER! |
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- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour *If at all possible, please weigh the flour
- 3/4 tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy (approx. 3 minutes on medium-high speed on a K-5). Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated. Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed. The cookie batter should be somewhat thick. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes. Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface. Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
*please do not use table salt, the sea salt gives the cookies a nice flavor and hints of texture. If you only have table salt, use 1/2 tsp. *When using sea salt, you will get small crunchy flecks of salt when you bite into the cookie. If you do not like this taste, go with 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.
*I realized grocery stores sell bags of chocolate chips in 12 oz bags but this recipe really needs every last chip. Otherwise you’ll get cookies with only a few chips in each one and this recipe requires lots of chocolate to bulk the cookie up. You’ll need about 1 1/2 bags.
*Troubleshooting*
-If you’re cookies are coming out flat and not like the pictures there are probably 3 reasons for this.
#1) Baking powder and Baking soda is old. If your baking powder and soda is older than 1 year and has not been in a sealed (preferably air tight) container, it has lost some of it rising qualities.
#2) Creaming. It is not enough to just cream the butter and sugars until it has come together. This recipe requires you to beat it with a mixer for 3 minutes until the texture of the butter and sugar turns to light and fluffy-just like the picture.
#3) Flour. Flour should be weighed. This can make or break the recipe because just scooping flour into a measuring cup will never yield ideal or consistent results.
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Beautiful pictures, as usual. I do enjoy a fabulous chocolate chip cookie, have tried at least 20 billion recipes, and am excited to try this one. Love that you are using salted butter! I think it’s underused in baking.
Certainly does look very, very good.
I have my own versio and haven’t posted either so far. Maybe I should.
I just love chocolate chip cookies. I think everyone does. I can’t wait to try your recipe. The photo of those chocolate chips on the dough batter is already delicious.
Beautiful cookies. Would be so lovely with a cup of coffee. I could also eat a dozen while typing away.
Are those for me? You shouldn’t have. lol. Awesome cookies. Chocolate chip is definitely a tried and true blue classic.
I’m very tempted by the caramel flavor and crisp bottoms of your cookies. Very happy that you came round to sharing the goods with us!
Your cookies do look quite good… *Almost* as good as mine… No, I’m just kidding! Yours look much better than mine. I am ashamed to admit that my stand-by chocolate chip recipe has been based off of the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s bag!
Now I have to try these cookies! I have to add 1/4 cup more flour to the Toll House recipe because of my altitude. Do you think I should do the same with your version? How much would that weigh? Thanks!
Barbara,
I always weight AP Flour as approx. 4oz.. so an additional 1/4 cup would be 1 oz. But you may find you don’t need it. Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Alice
I have recently decided, thanks to Shirley Corriher, that type of flour is INCREDIBLY important with chocolate chip cookies. Why 2 people bake the same recipe and one fails and the other succeeds. So with that in mind, what kind of flour do you use? I am obsessed with chocolate chip cookies, and although I have a current favorite, none are my recipe and I am always up for trying new!
OK, those look excellent. My choco chip cookies are more in the crunchy vein, and I insist on nuts. But if I were in the mood for a chewy cookie, I might very well turn to the Alice cookies.
i love my chocolate chip cookies with brown sugar too..it toally gives it the crunch and chewiness! So, far the best ive had is the hershey’s recipe..will try yours too. Recipe looks pretty similar n im sure its great!!
Alice, you are absolutely right!! This cookie recipe is all that and a bag of chips
I have tried countless ccc recipes and my children have voted yours, “The BEST”! I concur! This recipe will be my go-to recipe from now on~
Thanks and Keep it coming!!
Stunning photos, great story (and recipe) and the loveliest lady! Thanks for sharing this, Alica.
XOXO
Sorry for misspelling your name, lovely Alice!
*bookmarks along with the other 50,000 chocolate chip cookie recipes she has* Someday.. I’m going to need to scale all these recipes down and make three cookies from each to see which I like best lol
Great step by step photos! These cookies look unbeatable!
Yours look so decadent and exactly how I like my cookies. Definitely trying these.
These do look great!
A friend of mine developed a recipe for the Y cookie contest in Washington DC. I thought it was pretty good. I will have a bake off with your recipe and hers and see which prevails!
Alice- these turned out so great! I have for ages made Crisco’s Ultimate Chocolate Chip cookie with a few adaptations and always loved them and received a lot of compliments. These turned out chewier and I used grey sea salt that is a medium grind and I loved how I get the random bit of salty crunch when I eat a cookie. I did use chopped bittersweet chocolate instead of chips because it’s generally what I always use and had on hand.
LOVE your description of the salt
I’m licking my screen as I type… if that’s possible.
I am partial to Ghiradelli 60% cocoa chocolate chips, but if you say THESE are the best chocolate chip cookies in the world, I will have to try them. —-I can tell just by their shape they are the texture I like in a chocolate chip cookie. —nice pics:)
Those little scoops of dough are so adorable! (can dough be adorable?) You know I never get tired of chocolate chip cookie recipes – there’s so many ways to make them that I love trying new ones all the time!
I think I want a taste test of yours and Ashley’s. You know, to be sure.
These look like my kind of chocolate chip cookie. I love the flavor and texture that brown sugar yields. And I like them thin too. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
I blogged about your cookies today. http://www.barbarabakes.com/2009/10/alices-best-ever-chocolate-chip-cookie.html Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Oh my gosh! You three seriously crack me up!! I love that you did a bake off and seriously, I want to try all three of your cookie recipes to see which is better, but I am sure that yours will win Alice.
Why? Well, for the simple fact that you use salted butter and the bottoms are crisp. I love salt with my chocolate chip cookies!
I also love how you labeled the photo stating that : “This is what light and fluffy creamy butter and sugar should look like.” Seriously cracks me up. But I have a feeling that I shouldn’t mess with you in the kitchen!
Great post Alice!
You’ve convinced me! Next time I make chocolate chip cookies, I’m trying your recipe. I’ll be sure to check back and let you know what I think.
Hi Alice,
I found your website through Pioneer Woman today…so glad I did, everything looks wonderful!
You mentioned that you send your sister cookies and I was wondering how you do that? My son recently moved to New York from Calif. and I would like to send him his favorite cookies but I’m afraid they’ll be stale and broken apart my the time he gets them. Do you have any helpful hints? Thanks!
Diana
Hi Diana,
This is what I do when I ship cookies to my sister overseas.
Typically when I ship cookies, I bake them, allow them to cool, and stick them in the freezer. The next day when they are completely frozen, I will Foodsaver them with a piece of cardboard in the bag underneath the cookies so the suction doesn’t crush them. I manually do the Foodsaver so I can stop the suction in case it tries to crush them. I pack the cookies with other things in a Flat Rate box with the cookies in the Foodsaver bag also packaged in another box within the flatrate box. She usually gets the cookies 1-2 weeks out and has never mentioned to me about staleness problems. Hope this helps!
I have seriously been on the hunt for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe and with out a doubt this is it.
This one is a keeper for sure.
I’ve been having a good morning reading your blog posts. This one cracks me up. I have to say that my fav CCC recipe is from NY Times: http://helene-lacuisine.blogspot.com/2008/08/wow-chocolate-chips-cookies.html
Onolicious! I love Chocolate Chip cookies and these are yuummm!
Good job in your step by step instructions and pic’s. Another good one for Christmas gifts..
I would like to bow down in humbleness. I tried you recipe with skepticism thinking what most think, “My cookie is definitely the best.” I have to say….you were right. Your chocolate chip cookie is great. I tried your recipe twice, once according to your recipe, and second substituting the butter with butter flavored crisco. Both turned out really delicious. Thanks for sharing your cookie recipe.
Made your cookies this weekend and this recipe by far beats all the others I have tried.
A true must have.
I love this recipe!!!! The cookie was so moist and yummy…everyone just loved them and I will definitely make these for a bake sale any time soon!! I make these every Tuesday since I found out about this in a Tuesday so thank you so much for making these a yummy family tradition in my household
all I have to say is THANK YOU! I have been on a loooong search for the best Chocolate chip cookie…from the back of the choc. chip bag…to the crisco…and even good ol Betty…I am so happy to say I can stop! These were SO wonderful!! Exactly what I was looking for! The salt is the Perfect addition and the consistency is just what I like…thank you for putting my search to an end!
These are amazing. Hands-down best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever.
i made these cookies today and they are absolutely delicious!! they really are the best cookies I’ve made yet!
Dear Alice, I don’t bake often but this one sure makes me want to!
I’m following you closely (!) all the way here in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil!!!), so when I began reading the recipe from my feed reader I went: Oh-oh – what’s the standard weight of butter sticks in the US? But I was rescued by the photos – did you think about that or was it just a little angel whispering in your ear that made you include the wrappings in the photos?? =)
Thanks for the joy you bring to everyday cooking. Keep up the good work and good luck with your book, you sure deserve it!
Love, Luciana
Thanks everyone for your sweet comments. Glad to see so many of you have tried and enjoy the recipe!
Question!
How many cookies will I get from the recipe?
If I follow this recipe, how many cookies will I get?
Hyerim, I get about 36 cookies. But it depends on how big your scoop is.
Alice, Alice, Alice — These are the BOMB! I have been baking for years. My choc chip cookies were always variations on the Tollhouse and my latest favorite has oatmeal incorporated. Although, the oatmeal ones usually receive a luke warm reception from my boys. I think it is because they know there is oatmeal inside–far too nutritious!!! When I made these last night they asked me if I made them, because they couldn’t be mine. (sniff, sniff) Children can be brutal. Thanks for sharing! I knew these would be good–salted butter, more brown sugar than white–genious. PS My children thank you too.
…I mean genius!
I tried this recipe, and it is definitely my favorite of all the recipes I have tried. Dr. Delicious! Thank you!
This really is the best recipe. What more could someone ask for in a cookie? I tried the link to the other cookie recipe too, and although it was good, it wasn’t quite as good as this one (those cookies went crunchy the very next day). Yours are an incredibly easy recipe too. My son has egg and dairy allergies, so I was able to adapt the recipe to make him his very own batch as well. Thanks so much for posting this recipe!
Over the Top Good Alice. These have become my favorite CCC. I live at 6000+ feet and didn’t add any more flour. They were kinda skinny and not as pretty as your pictures but they were delicious!
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